Peer support describes the process of giving and receiving support between people who share similar life experiences. It is commonly used by family members of people with disability, with positive outcomes. However, existing research tends to assume it has separate and discrete benefits, neglecting the subtleties of how the different outcomes may be interconnected and mutually reinforcing. An account of these broader connections between benefits is needed. Drawing on Australian data from 24 parents and siblings of people with disability, this paper identifies benefits of peer support, including exchange of information, benefiting from experience and problem solving; motivation/encouragement and self-confidence/personal development; social interaction and friendship; understanding, perspective and belonging/community; working together for change; and resilience and well-being. The paper then proposes a framework to understand these benefits in an interconnected manner, where they are either transactional (giving and receiving practical and social-emotional resources) or integrative (assimilating what is given and received into one's own experience and actions). The implications for practice and for families are discussed.

中文翻译：

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残障人士家庭成员同伴支持互惠互利的框架

同伴支持描述了在具有相似生活经历的人之间给予和接受支持的过程。它通常被残疾人的家庭成员使用，并取得积极的成果。然而，现有研究倾向于假设它具有单独和离散的好处，而忽略了不同结果如何相互关联和相互加强的微妙之处。需要对利益之间的这些更广泛的联系进行说明。本文利用澳大利亚 24 位残障人士的父母和兄弟姐妹的数据，确定了同伴支持的好处，包括信息交流、从经验中受益和解决问题；动机/鼓励和自信/个人发展；社交互动和友谊；理解、观点和归属感/社区；为改变而共同努力；以及复原力和幸福感。然后，本文提出了一个框架，以一种相互关联的方式来理解这些好处，其中它们要么是交易性的（给予和接受实际和社会情感资源），要么是综合性的（将给予和接受的东西同化到自己的经验和行动中）。讨论了对实践和家庭的影响。